Comparing the Phoenix Suns of December 2023 vs. January 2024

Comparing the Phoenix Suns of December 2023 vs. January 2024

An enormously satisfying Victory last night for the Phoenix Suns as they’ve won seven straight games they open up their seven game win streak with a victory over their quote unquote rival the Dallas Mavericks 12-3 since losing to the Mavericks on Christmas day and it would seem that a lot has been figured

Out and certainly we’re all coming to realize that even your flaws can be covered up really really nicely when you have Deon Booker and Kevin Durant out there to cover them up along with Bradley Beal uh Steve zme is filling in for gambo today along with Mitch and

Lauren the whole crew we’re all kind of taking turns talking on today’s Burns and gamble show and joining us right now one of our lead writers at arizonasports.com co-host of the Empire of the Suns podcast which also can be downloaded from arizonasports.com and through all of the major uh sites as

Well Kevin Zimmerman joining us here in studio to talk Sons basketball what’s going on Zim hey we have positive things y w we’re not in here talking about them not having a point guard and they need this and they need that and Stephen a gar Stephen A Smith calls him hot

Garbage we’re not talking about any of that stuff we’re talking about good stuff right now we like this better don’t we was that a month ago I mean yeah exactly you know what December was rough let’s be honest it was and that I’m gonna start there today’s January

25th it was exactly a month ago when they lost to Dallas on Christmas night and it was bad it was real there were questions all across the board about Frank vogle this and the plan that and Stephen calls them hot garbage and Kevin Durant is frustrated according to wo

It’s such a simplistic question but what in your opinion what has happened over the last exactly 30 days to change the narrative so dramatically and so quickly for this basketball team I honestly think it’s as simple as I mean this is what they’ve been saying all along but

If they had started the season completely healthy or relatively healthy what is it like a month out like you start you have hiccups in your first 10 15 games like we all expected and now like the pieces are there but we’re starting to learn okay the role players

Fit here when the big three are in place and like we don’t have great answers on that by any means right now I I think like we’ll get to the what do they need the trade line concerns and all that but we’re finally saying okay what we

Thought was when you have three really good players they’re going to you know maybe go down 20 and be able to come from behind and that kind of thing and that’s where you start to show like your potential and now it’s how do you make that an every day every quarter thing

Yeah and Berns and I were talking about it earlier it’s nice to know that on a night where maybe one guy doesn’t have it the other can pick it up and I say that as if it’s just Booker and Durant obviously Beal plays into that conversation too but despite the score

Of last night and no Kyrie Irving and all the storylines that come out of that game it’s nice to know that Kevin Durant can find other ways to contribute on a night where he only has 12 points I don’t know the last time Kevin Durant played at 38 minutes and only had 12

Points but he contributes in other ways yeah and and the ability for him to be like I will take Luca for stretches at least and do a pretty darn good job for being older and have all that mileage and that kind of thing I think like you

Can talk about the Stars doing these things that we don’t talk about stars usually doing because hey he’s free to do that I already scored 40 points twice in a row um and by the way like when you score 40 points when it’s Kevin Durant that’s usually pretty easy like earlier

In the season I think he and book had great games but it was they were carrying so much weight book was running point and now like the 40 points is completely different from like if he had scored 40 earlier in the season to me because it comes so much easier because

He has be and book on the wings and that kind of thing so I think just the context of like you said you either go score 40 points if it’s needed and if someone else is doing that hey how else can I contribute and that’s kind of

Where we’re going to see them grow together and start learning how to to pick their spots I think and I think that’s super important like that’s like yes we want them all to be healthy because of these reasons and and their potential but doing that in the regular

Season is about finding what else and what little things they can do to contribute to Kevin Zimmerman co-host of the Empire of the Suns podcast Our Guest here on the burnson gambo show with Steve zimme filling in I want to spend a minute or two talking about Bradley Beal

Because he’s he’s not getting the oh wow kind of headlines that Durant and Booker have over the last week just from a point total standpoint I watch these games you do too are you as impressed as I am with his ability to adapt himself and mold himself to the situation at

Hand and whatever it and the sacrifice that comes with adapting and molding himself to whatever the situation requires I have been very impressed with Bradley Beal the last week yeah and last night just you know he had a couple stretches on Luca I believe where the

Defense is really good and you see his size like he’s maybe only listed as 64 but he has long arms is strong can hold up um and he and Grayson Allen too like I know they’re completely different players but like you see how they pop off and have big games because of book

And Durant like he’s going to have that opportunity so I think it is really promising just hey you need me to hit a big Corner three because they forgot I’m Bradley Beal like right that’s yeah right like the life’s probably great for him right now and there will be times I

Think what he had a big game was it the Lakers game a week or two ago where it went off but like he doesn’t need to force it it’ll just let it come to him and that’s what is impressive about these three guys is like we were all

Wondering like how are they going to figure this out but they’re all like kind of built to figure it out and to adapt and then to do other things like you said it’s it’s a credit to his leadership abilities as well obviously he missed a lot of time early in the

Season and so he’s still kind of getting his feet under him in some ways but it’s hard mentally to go from a situation where you’re the clear best player on a bad team for like a decade and then all of a sudden you join up

With a bunch of guys and you kind of know you’re the third wheel you kind we kind of all knew that not that he’s a bad player it takes a lot as a person to take a backseat sometimes to other people when you know what you’re capable

Of since he came back from this past injury he’s still a 20 point a game guy and that’s that’s the third best player on your team can I steal a DeAndre aen quote from this week uh are you sure to do that if you want

To go down to Deandre not TR I just went to it in my brain but like he’s a max player he knows it like he doesn’t have that much to prove is where I’m going with it um he really doesn’t and when he does go to a good situation like this he

Can do those things like bernzy mentioned like his cutting like book hit him on a cut when book drove like that’s chemistry but also it’s like hey like this makes life easy finishing he he was I don’t know how many loose balls in the second half he got whether was rebounds

Or just someone else knocked it deflected it um but like that’s where you see like it happens all the time in the NBA and we know what happened to book where it’s like you’re stuck somewhere that’s not a good team and people just like Bradley bal’s not a

Good Defender is he that bad right when you when Eric bledo was on the bad Sons team he goes to Milwaukee and that kind of thing and suddenly he’s a great defender like these things happen I know it’s not that kind of degree for Bradley but like he’s he’s definitely proving he

Can do all the winning team guy things like that yeah uh last question for you before we let go and I was talking with a friend when I was driving in here and we talked about this on the air too a little bit over the last couple of days

This ability to come back and last night kind of was another comeback I nobody wants to see them down 16 nobody wants to see them down 20 whatever in the fourth quarter or 23 against the Bulls should we get comfortable with their ability to do this or will there

Always be a level of discomfort when we’re watching and we see the scoreboard oh they’re down 16 oh they’re down like you know right because it’s because you want to believe it’s doable it’s always do but you don’t want to do that every single night all the time do you no I

Mean the minutes is we’re going to start talking about all these guys minutes I think Durant is like third in the NBA and at his age and all that you worry about it especially since he hasn’t missed time this year really um but to to answer your question I think like

Mon’s teams did that too like in the bubble I remember they would get down and you just felt okay that’s fine you’re down 12 and I think there are levels to it where recently like the Bulls game yeah they played pretty badly for a half but it wasn’t three quarters

Where it’s like 25 30 points insurmountable um and then the the Dallas game was bad for maybe a quarter is and it wasn’t as bad so they’re at least bringing the level down of like oh they’re just playing badly like the Kings game was bad and they they came

Back from that the Bulls game wasn’t quite there Mavs game I would say they had a couple bad moments but it wasn’t like I just can’t watch this team so I think they are kind of figuring out okay we have to at least not don’t turn it

Over play a little defense you’ll be in with any game if you just keep it below 20 you know that kind of thing yeah uh the best Sons content on the web you can find it at arizonasports.com the Empire of the Suns podcast with Kevin and Kellen Zim’s work Kell’s Olsen Kellen

Olsen’s work I should say all at arizonasports.com Zim thank you for stopping by man appreciate it you are ejected okay that’s fine the Grant Williams treatment here well or the Devin Booker fan wearing the elv Jersey go go watch the rest of the game from The Concourse Zim get out of

Here get out of my sight thanks for watching Burns and gambo click to see more from the guys and hit the button in the middle to subscribe so you never miss a video from Arizona Sports

The Phoenix Suns extend their winning streak to seven games following a victory over the Dallas Mavericks. The win came a day shy of a month since the Suns fell to the Mavs on Christmas. Dave Burns, Steve Zinsmeister and Kevin Zimmerman look back on the Suns of past compared to the Suns of present.

Video: Felisa Cárdenas and Jeremy Schnell/Arizona Sports
Photos: Sam Hodde, Christian Petersen/Getty Images

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